Holy Roller
Open-knowledge reference entry
Holy Roller and Holy Jumper are terms originating in the 18th century that have been used to refer to adherents of the Methodist tradition, such as Free Methodists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Calvinistic Methodists. The term describes dancing, shaking or other boisterous movements by church attendees who perceive themselves as being under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Rolling is sometimes used derisively by those outside these denominations, as if to describe people literally rolling on the floor in an uncontrolled manner. Those within the Methodist traditions have reclaimed the term as a badge of honor.
Description
Holy Roller or Holy Jumper are terms used to describe Methodist worship, from its early days and into the holiness movement, including Free Methodists, Wesleyan Methodists, and Calvinistic Methodists. During the days of the Evangelical Revival, the Methodists of Wales who experienced the New Birth "could frequently be heard weeping, groaning and shouting out in both agony and ectasy" and engaging in "dancing, jumping, and exuberant singing." Holy Rolling is sometimes used derisively by those outside these denominations, as if to describe people literally rolling on the floor in an uncontrolled manner.
Many individuals in the wider Methodist tradition are also referred to by others as Shouting Methodists due to the ejaculatory prayers congregants often utter during the service of worship, such as "Praise the Lord!", "Hallelujah!", and "Amen!
Similar disparaging terms directed at outspoken Christians but later embraced by them include Jesus freaks or, from former centuries, Quakers and Shakers.
With the rise of Holiness Pentecostalism in the early 20th century, the term Holy Roller has been applied to Holiness Pentecostals as well. Holiness Pentecostals who reject modern medicine have been referred to as followers of the "pokeweed gospel" or members of the "lightning bug church."
History
Historians trace the term "Holy Jumper" or "Welsh Jumper" to 1762, when it was used to describe Methodists who experienced the New Birth during the second wave of the Evangelical Revival in Llangeitho in 1762.
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This entry incorporates text from “Holy Roller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.